NANJING, China – After signing a clean energy pact with Sichuan Province yesterday, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. traveled to Nanjing, where he delivered remarks at an international environmental summit and signed a new agreement with California’s sister state, Jiangsu Province, to broaden bilateral collaboration on climate action.
“The challenges are big but so too is the commitment – the commitment of Jiangsu Province with California and China with the people of America. We’re going to get it done. Nothing will stop us,” said Governor Brown. “Green is not only gold, green is our future – China, California and America and the other countries of the world all working for the prosperity of the people.”
The Governor’s remarks came on World Environment Day at the International Summit of New Environmental Protection Technology. The event featured remarks from China’s new Minister of Environmental Protection, Li Ganjie, and representatives from Jiangsu Province, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Danish Embassy, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the California Institute of Technology and Peking University.
Later, Governor Brown met with Jiangsu Party Secretary Li Qiang and signed an agreement to expand cooperation on clean energy technology to help improve and advance energy efficiency and storage, renewable energy, grid modernization, zero-emission vehicles and low-carbon urban development. Under the agreement, California and Jiangsu Province will also expand collaboration on greenhouse gas emission and air pollution reduction programs, including emissions trading systems. Additionally, the agreement aims to spur innovation and investment in clean technology through the establishment of the California-Jiangsu Clean Tech Innovation Center in Jiangsu and the development of a California-China Clean Technology Partnership Fund.
Jiangsu Province, with a GDP of more than $1 trillion, is home to approximately 80 million people and is China’s most densely populated province. Jiangsu Province became California’s sister state in 1985 and since Governor Brown took office, he has maintained deep ties with the province, including visiting Nanjing during California’s 2013 Trade and Investment Mission to China. Jiangsu Province was among the first provinces in China to join the Under2 Coalition, and the City of Zhenjiang, located in Jiangsu Province, was the first Chinese city to join.
The Under2 Coalition – an international pact among cities, states and countries committed to limiting the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius, the level of potentially catastrophic consequences – now includes 170 jurisdictions on six continents. These members collectively represent more than 1.18 billion people and $27.5 trillion GDP – equivalent to 16 percent of the global population and 37 percent of the global economy. Among the coalition members are 10 U.S. states and eight U.S. cities that together account for nearly one-third of America’s population and GDP.
Tomorrow will mark the start of three days of bilateral meetings and events in Beijing, including the Under2 Clean Energy Forum, which Governor Brown will host with China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Sichuan Province on Wednesday. Governor Brown will also participate in events associated with the Clean Energy Ministerial, an annual meeting of national energy ministers and other high-level delegates from nearly two dozen countries.
The Under2 Clean Energy Forum expands on the Clean Energy Ministerial by bringing together members of the Under2 Coalition – leaders of cities, provinces and states around the world – as well as businesses and NGOs to drive subnational and non-state action to decarbonize the economy and curb climate change. This forum builds on the event Governor Brown launched last year in San Francisco during the Clean Energy Ministerial.
More information on the Governor’s itinerary in China can be found here.
Photo captions:
1.) Governor Brown delivers remarks at International Summit of New Environmental Protection Technology. Photo Credit: Zhu Jiang, Xinhua News Agency.
2.) Governor Brown meets with Jiangsu Party Secretary Li Qiang. Photo Credit: Qiu Guohui, Jiangsu Province Foreign Affairs Office.
3.) Governor Brown and Jiangsu Party Secretary Li Qiang after signing California-Jiangsu clean technology agreement. Photo Credit: Qiu Guohui, Jiangsu Province Foreign Affairs Office.
For high resolution copies of these photos, please contact Danella Debel, Office of the Governor at Danella.Debel@gov.ca.gov.